290 The Claws of Axos: Episode Two

EPISODE: The Claws of Axos: Episode Two
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 290
STORY NUMBER: 057
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 20 March 1971
WRITER: Bob Baker & Dave Martin
DIRECTOR: Michael Ferguson
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Barry Letts
RATINGS: 8 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - the Claws of Axos - Special Edition
EPISODE FORMAT: 525 video RSC

"All over, Brigadier. No further concern of yours. Agreement has been reached. Britain has the world rights to Axonite!"

The Axons attempt to convince Jo she suffered a hallucination due to being near their power source. Chinn negotiates with Axos for worldwide distribution rights for Axonite and then, using emergency powers granted to him by the minister, has all Unit staff arrested. The Doctor is released to aid Windsor in his testing of the Axonite. The Axons duplicate Bill Filer and send him to fetch the Doctor. The Master negotiates his release, but Axos retains his Tardis. He journeys to London to bring the Doctor's Tardis back with him. Filer escapes and saves the Doctor from the fake Filer but in doing so is arrested and locked up with Unit. The Doctor runs an experiment on the Axonite which Windsor interferes with and is killed, setting off an alarm that allows the Brigadier, Jo & Filer to escape. The Doctor realises Axos, the Axons & Axonite are all one being. The Axonite sample is absorbing all the energy from the nuclear power plant and duplicating itself. The Doctor & Jo are surrounded by tentacled Axon monsters.

Must resist urge to punch Chinn..... Deary me one self seeking idiot seemingly fouling everything up.

There's every indication his superiors think the same thing of him too:

CHINN: Minister? Will you scramble, or shall I, sir?
MINISTER: Just your report, Chinn. I'm sure that will be quite garbled enough.
CHINN: Yes, sir. Well, as I anticipated, we are having a certain amount of trouble with these UNIT people, sir.
MINISTER: We, Chinn? We?
CHINN: Well, I am, sir.
MINISTER: Are you quite sure you can handle this matter, Chinn?
CHINN: Oh, yes, sir, yes, of course! Er, about the special powers, sir?
MINISTER: Because if you are not, just remember, it's your head on the block, Chinn, not mine. CHINN: Er, about my request, sir?
MINISTER: Special powers have already been granted. Do your best to keep me informed, old chap. After all, you are our man on the spot, Chinn, in more ways than one!

Chinn then tries to keep as much as the pie as possible for Britain:

CHINN: All we ask is your guarantee that the sole distribution right to all Axonite materials be vested in the British government.
AXON MAN: To bring the greatest possible benefit to all Earth peoples, Axonite distribution must be worldwide.
CHINN: I think I can give you that assurance.
AXON MAN: In that case, all that remains is for me to hand over samples of Axonite for your investigation to begin.
CHINN: Thank you.

And, having been annoyed by the Brigadier last episode looks to sideline him, initially with little effect:

BRIGADIER: Mister Chinn? What's been going on here? I warn you, you have no authority.
CHINN: All over, Brigadier. No further concern of yours. Agreement has been reached. Britain has the world rights to Axonite.
BRIGADIER: Not as far as I'm concerned.
CHINN: I'm warning you, Brigadier.
BRIGADIER: I'll take that, please. Thank you. Right, shall we go? Doctor, Miss Grant. After you, Mister Chinn.

Unfortunately Chinn's taken very drastic measure to ensure UNIT is put out the picture here:

BRIGADIER: What's going on here, Yates?

YATES: Regulars suddenly took over, sir.
BRIGADIER: Took over?
YATES: We couldn't very well open fire on them, could we, sir?
BRIGADIER: What about the rest of the men?
CHINN: They've all been arrested, and so, Brigadier, have you. If you will excuse me.
(Chinn takes back the Axonite from the Brigadier.)
BRIGADIER: You have no right.
CHINN: On the contrary, I have every right. You're all under security arrest under the Emergency Powers Act.
BRIGADIER: Captain, this is an illegal act.
HARKER: I have my orders, Brigadier.
BRIGADIER: I must tell you, Mister Chinn, I shall make every possible attempt to warn the UN.
CHINN: Captain, I want all these men put under twenty four hour armed guard. They are to see no one, no one at all. Do you understand? If you need me, I shall be with Sir George.

The real irony, as we'll see, is that in the overall scheme of things Chinn's actions probably help save the world!

Windsor's a bit of an idiot too for someone who's supposedly the chief scientist at a power point as the manner of his death demonstrates!

We liked the Axon eye on a stem that talks to the Master, a decent effect unfortunately flawed by some dodgy CSO that causes the background to be seen through it occasionally.

Lots of the cast in this story are familiar to us from Doctor Who and other television programs. Donald Hewlett,playing Hardiman, becomes a regular player in David Croft & Jimmy Perry sitcoms appearing as Colonel Charles Reynolds in It Ain't Half Hot Mum and Lord Meldrum in You Rang, M'Lord? However he also has a regular role in the David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd sitcom Come Back Mrs. Noah, which isn't so fondly remembered, where he plays Carstairs.

David Savile previously played Lt Carstairs in The War Games: of all the guest cast in that story he's in the most episodes of this story appearing in the first nine. He later returns as Colonel Charles Crichton in The Five Doctors. Before Doctor Who he's had some experience with science fiction appearing in the first season Out of the Unknown episode The Counterfeit Man as Gerry. This episode survives and can be seen as part of the Out of the Unknown DVD Set. He also appeared in the film version of Quatermass and the Pit as an Army Officer and plays a hospital doctor in the UFO episode The Man Who Came Back.

This is the television debut for Tim Piggott-Smith, playing Captain Harker, who'll return as Marco in The Masque of Mandragora. He's been in a large number of prominent TV and film productions.

Bill Filer is played by Paul Grist who's also been in genre shows such as Blake's 7: Gambit as Cevedic and Survivors. An online acquaintance of mine believes they've spotted him in Space 1999 as an Eagle Pilot.

Actually what function is Filer playing in this story that couldn't have been filled by giving his part to Captain Yates?

Easy to spot a couple of the show's regular stuntmen in this episode: the UNIT Soldier guarding Axos, and falling foul of the master is Stuart Fell.

Meanwhile the driver that fall's under the Master's influence is Nick Hobbs.

The Master hijacks the UNIT lorry at St Martins Plains Camp, an MOD site near Folkstone. The bridge he jumps from onto the truck carries the railway into Folkstone.

A quick bit of prop spotting: In Windsor's lab is our friend a the panel from the ICT 1300.

We've previously seen it this season in the Satellite Dish Control Room in Terror of the Autons, controlling the Keller Machine in Mind of Evil and then as part of the control system for the Thunderbolt missile later in that story!